Greek Philosophy: Plato - The most famous of Socrates's pupils was an Greek Philosophy: Plato Greek Philosophy: Plato - The most famous of Socrates's... TYPE View Full Document The most famous of Socrates's pupils was an aristocratic young man named Plato. After the death of Socrates, Plato carried on much of his former teacher's work and eventually founded his own school, the Academy, in 385. The Academy would become in its time the most famous school in the classical world, and its most famous pupil was Aristotle . We know much about Plato's teachings, because he wrote dialogues between Socrates and others that would explore philosophical issues. These dialogues would be used in his school as starting points for discussion; these discussions and Plato's final word on the dialogues have all been lost to us. The Platonic dialogues consist of Socrates asking questions of another and proving, through these questions, that the other person has the wrong idea on the subject. Initially, Plato seems to have carried on the philosophy of Socrates, concentrating on the dialectical examination of basic ethical issues: what is friendship? what is virtue? can virtue be taught?

In these early Platonic dialogues, Socrates questions another person and proves, through these questions, that the other person has the wrong idea on the subject. These dialogues never answer the questions they begin with. However, Plato later began to develop his own philosophy and the Socrates of the later dialogues does more teaching than he does questioning. The fundamental aspect of Plato's thought is the theory of "ideas" or "forms." Plato, like so many other Greek philosphers, was stymied by the question of change in the physical world. Heraclitus had said that there is nothing certain or stable except the fact that things change, and Parmenides and the Eleatic philosophers claimed that all change, motion, and time was an illusion. Where was the truth? How can these two opposite positions be reconciled? Plato ingeniously combined the two; a discussion of Plato's theory of forms is below. The most famous of Plato's dialogues is an immense dialogue called The Republic , and, next to his account of Socrates's trial, The Apology , The Republic is one of the single most influential works in Western philosophy.

Essentially, it deals with the central problem of how to live a good life; this inquiry is shaped into the parallel questions (a) what is justice in the State, or what would an ideal State be like, and (b) what is a just individual? Naturally these questions also encompass many others, such as how the This preview has intentionally blurred sections. Sign up to view the full version. This is the end of the preview. Sign up to access the rest of the document. TAGS infed.org | Plato on education search Plato on education Plato on education. In his Republic we find just about the most influential early account of education. His interest in soul, dialogue and in continuing education continue to provide informal educators with rich insights. Plato (428 – 348 BC) Greek philosopher who was the pupil of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle – and one of the most influential figures in ‘western’ thought. He founded what is said to be the first university – his Academy (near Athens) in around 385 BC. Plato’s early works (dialogues) provide much of what we know of Socrates (470 – 399BC).

In these early dialogues we see the use of the so called Socratic method. This is a question and answer form of arguing with an ‘expert’ on one side and a ‘searcher’ on the other. In the dialogues, the questioning of the expert by the ‘searcher’ often exposes gaps in the reasoning. Part of this can be put down to Plato’s dislike of the Sophists (particularly as teachers of rhetoric) and his concern that teachers should know their subject. The ‘middle period’ of Plato’s work is also characterised by the use of dialogues in which Socrates is the main speaker – but by this point it is generally accepted that it is Plato’s words that are being spoken. We see the flowering of his thought around knowledge and the Forms, the Soul (psyche and hence psychology), and political theory (see, especially, The Republic). The ‘late period’ dialogues are largely concerned with revisiting the metaphysical and logical assumptions of his ‘middle period’. One of the significant features of the dialogical (dialectic) method is that it emphasizes collective, as against solitary, activity. It is through the to and fro of argument amongst friends (or adversaries) that understanding grows (or is revealed).

Such philosophical pursuit alongside and within a full education allows humans to transcend their desires and sense in order to attain true knowledge and then to gaze upon the Final Good (Agathon). Perhaps the best known aspect of Plato’s educational thought is his portrayal of the ideal society in The Republic. He set out in some detail , the shape and curriculum of an education system (with plans for its organization in The Laws). In the ideal state, matters are overseen by the guardian class – change is to be avoided (perfection having already been obtained), and slaves, and craftsmen and merchants are to know their place. It is the guardian class who are educated, merchants and craftsmen serve apprenticeships and slaves… Plato’s relevance to modern day educators can be seen at a number of levels. First, he believed, and demonstrated, that educators must have a deep care for the well-being and future of those they work with. Educating is a moral enterprise and it is the duty of educators to search for truth and virtue, and in so doing guide those they have a responsibility to teach.

As Charles Hummel puts it in his excellent introductory essay (see below), the educator, ‘must never be a mere peddler of materials for study and of recipes for winning disputes, nor yet for promoting a career. Second, there is the ‘Socratic teaching method’. The teacher must know his or her subject, but as a true philosopher he or she also knows that the limits of their knowledge. It is here that we see the power of dialogue – the joint exploration of a subject – ‘knowledge will not come from teaching but from questioning’. Third, there is his conceptualization of the differing educational requirements associated with various life stages. We see in his work the classical Greek concern for body and mind. We see the importance of exercise and discipline, of story telling and games. Children enter school at six where they first learn the three Rs (reading, writing and counting) and then engage with music and sports. Plato’s philosopher guardians then follow an educational path until they are 50. At eighteen they are to undergo military and physical training; at 21 they enter higher studies; at 30 they begin to study philosophy and serve the polis in the army or civil service. At 50 they are ready to rule.

This is a model for what we now describe as lifelong education (indeed, some nineteenth century German writers described Plato’s scheme as ‘andragogy’). It is also a model of the ‘learning society’ – the polis is serviced by educators. It can only exist as a rational form if its members are trained – and continue to grow. Key texts: SOCRATES & PLATO Born into the golden age of ancient Greece, Socrates (469 B.C.-399 B.C.) abandoned the trade handed down to him by his father and instead decided to pursue loftier goals--mainly philosophy. In Greek philosophy means "the love of wisdom," and philosophers, a group that got its start in ancient Athens, dedicated their lives to the pursuit of wisdom. Soon Socrates had gained a following of students, but unlike the sophists (another group of teachers in Athens) Socrates did not accept money for his services. Also, while the sophists trained students to argue either side of an argument convincingly, Socrates wanted his students to pursue only the Truth. One of Socrates' brightest students was the philosopher Plato (428 B.C.

- 348 B.C.), who wrote down many of his mentor's dialogues. Plato captured Socrates' style of teaching, the Socratic Method. Rather than handing out answers, Socrates asked questions--question after question after question. Under his constant questioning, Socrates' students were forced to examine their own ideas and form new ones based on their own understanding. Socrates wasn't after brainless disciples. He was trying to create a new breed of thinkers, ones who explored the world with their minds. (In many ways, ancient philosophers are the forerunners of modern scientists.) Socrates' students were such good pupils that they mastered his technique and began to use it on their own. They began questioning everyone, even the government. At this time the Athenian government was fighting a losing war with Sparta and did not have time for these ungrateful teenagers questioning the way things had always been. To them philosophy sounded more like rebellion. A group of powerful politicians brought charges against Socrates, accusing him of corrupting the youth of Athens with his bizarre ideas. If convicted, Socrates would be forced to drink hemlock, a deadly poison. Their charge was more of a scare tactic than anything.

They expected Socrates to back down, but being a man of principle he did not. Surrounded by his closest friends, Socrates declared that he was willing to die in the name of wisdom and drank the fatal draught. After the death of Socrates, Plato founded his own school and kept the philosophical ideals of his master alive. In time he went on to formulate many of his own ideas and write extensively on various subjects. Plato's most famous work is The Republic, a dialogue discussing the perfect society. Plato's school met in a grove sacred to the Greek hero Academus. They called his school "The Academy". ABOVE: The Death of Socrates BELOW: A Philosopher is Questioned by the City Guards Plato Plato Plato was a pupil of Socrates, the famous Greek scholar and teacher. Plato believed in being able to obtain ideal states of being and that a person should try to reach the ideal human state through philosophy. He believed that philosopher kings should rule city-states. His focus was to produce good men which would lead to a good state. Plato started the Academy, which is considered by some to be the first university. His writings recorded the thoughts and ideas of Socrates as well as his own extensions of those ideas.

Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle The Ancient Greeks, Part Two: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle "The unexamined life is not worth living." -- Socrates The Athenians When we think of ancient Greece, we think right away of Athens. Several of the philosophers we have already discussed considered it the pinnacle of their careers to come and teach in this great city. But Athens wasn’t always great. It began as a collection of villages in some of the poorest agricultural land in Greece. Only carefully tended grapes and olives provided early Athens with a livelihood, that and trade. The distance between the haves -- the ruling aristocratic trading families -- and the have nots -- peasants working the land -- and the accompanying feudal oppression, grew so great that it looked like the city and its surrounding area would collapse under the weight. In 594 bc, the leaders of the middle class recruited a merchant named Solon to accept leadership of the city and restore some peace and prosperity. He began by canceling all debts and freeing all who had been enslaved on account of debt.

Then he proceeded to draft a constitution in which the population was divided into four classes based entirely on economic worth, with the highest retaining the greatest power, but the lowest being exempt from taxes. After a difficult transition, the world’s first democracy was established under the leadership of Cleisthenes in 507 bc, when he decried that all free men would be permitted to vote. This, of course, falls short of a complete democracy, but don't judge them too harshly: Slavery would not outlawed until 1814, when Mexico would become the very first sovereign nation to permanently ban slavery. The US wouldn't free its slaves until 1865 with the 13th amendment. And women didn't get to vote until New Zealand gave them the vote in 1893. It would take the US until 1919 and the 19th amendment. Unfortunately, at about the same time the democratic experiment began, the great Persian Empire to the east decided to expand into, first, Ionia, and then Greece proper.

But in 490 bc, 20,000 Greeks defeated 100,000 Persian troops at Marathon, north of Athens. (A messenger named Pheidippides ran the 26 miles -- 42.195 km -- to Athens to give them the good news, hence the sport of marathon running!) In 481, the Persian emperor Xerxes sent an army of over two million men, assisted by a fleet of 1200 ships, to attack Greece again. The army ravaged the north of Greece and prepared to attack Athens. They found the city deserted. The Persian navy, however, found the Greek fleet waiting for it in the Bay of Salamis. The Greeks won the day against enormous odds. By 479, the Persians were forced back into Asia Minor. If this seems like just a little piece of history, consider: This victory allowed the Greek adventure to continue to produce the kind of thinking that would set the tone for the next two millennia in Europe and the Mediterranean.

During the time period we are looking at in this chapter, Athens had as many as 300,000 people, making it one of the largest cities in the world. About half were free, one third were slaves, and one sixth were foreigners (metics). The free adult males who could vote numbered about 50,000. Socrates Socrates (470-399) was the son of a sculptor and a midwife, and served with distinction in the Athenian army during Athens’ clash with Sparta. He married, but had a tendency to fall in love with handsome young men, in particular a young soldier named Alcibiades. He was, by all accounts, short and stout, not given to good grooming, and a lover of wine and conversation. His famous student, Plato, called him “the wisest, and justest, and best of all men whom I have ever known” (Phaedo). He was irritated by the Sophists and their tendency to teach logic as a means of achieving self-centered ends, and even more their promotion of the idea that all things are relative. It was the truth that he loved, desired, and believed in.

Philosophy, the love of wisdom, was for Socrates itself a sacred path, a holy quest -- not a game to be taken lightly. He believed -- or at least said he did in the dialog Meno -- in the reincarnation of an eternal soul which contained all knowledge. We unfortunately lose touch with that knowledge at every birth, and so we need to be reminded of what we already know (rather than learning something new). He said that he did not teach, but rather served, like his mother, as a midwife to truth that is already in us! Making use of questions and answers to remind his students of knowledge is called maieutics (midwifery), dialectics, or the Socratic method. One example of his effect on philosophy is found in the dialog Euthyphro. He suggests that what is to be considered a good act is not good because gods say it is, but is good because it is useful to us in our efforts to be better and happier people. This means that ethics is no longer a matter of surveying the gods or scripture for what is good or bad, but rather thinking about life. He even placed individual conscience above the law -- quite a dangerous position to take!

Socrates himself never wrote any of his ideas down, but rather engaged his students -- wealthy young men of Athens -- in endless conversations. In exchange for his teaching, they in turn made sure that he was taken care of. Since he claimed to have few needs, he took very little, much to his wife Xanthippe’s distress. Plato reconstructed these discussions in a great set of writings known as the Dialogs. It is difficult to distinguish what is Socrates and what is Plato in these dialogs, so we will simply discuss them together. Socrates wasn’t loved by everyone by any means. His unorthodox political and religious views gave the leading citizens of Athens the excuse they needed to sentence him to death for corrupting the morals of the youth of the city. In 399, he was ordered to drink a brew of poison hemlock, which he did in the company of his students. The event is documented in Plato's Apology. Socrates' final words were "Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius (the god of medicine). Pay it and do not neglect it." Plato Plato (437-347) was Socrates’ prized student.

From a wealthy and powerful family, his actual name was Aristocles -- Plato was a nickname, referring to his broad physique. When he was about twenty, he came under Socrates’ spell and decided to devote himself to philosophy. Devastated by Socrates’ death, he wandered around Greece and the Mediterranean and was taken by pirates. His friends raised money to ransom him from slavery, but when he was released without it, they bought him a small property called Academus to start a school -- the Academy, founded in 386. The Academy was more like Pythagorus’ community -- a sort of quasi-religious fraternity, where rich young men studied mathematics, astronomy, law, and, of course, philosophy. It was free, depending entirely on donations. True to his ideals, Plato also permitted women to attend! The Academy would become the center of Greek learning for almost a millennium. Plato can be understood as idealistic and rationalistic, much like Pythagorus but much less mystical. He divides reality into two: On the one hand we have ontos, idea or ideal. This is ultimate reality, permanent, eternal, spiritual. On the other hand, there’s phenomena, which is a manifestation of the ideal.

Phenomena are appearances -- things as they seem to us -- and are associated with matter, time, and space. Phenomena are illusions which decay and die. Ideals are unchanging, perfect. Phenomena are definitely inferior to Ideals! The idea of a triangle -- the defining mathematics of it, the form or essence of it -- is eternal. Any individual triangle, the triangles of the day-to-day experiential world, are never quite perfect: They may be a little crooked, or the lines a little thick, or the angles not quite right.... They only approximate that perfect triangle, the ideal triangle. If it seems strange to talk about ideas or ideals as somehow more real than the world of our experiences, consider science. The law of gravity, 1+1=2, “magnets attract iron,” E=mc2, and so on -- these are universals, not true for one day in one small location, but true forever and everywhere! If you believe that there is order in the universe, that nature has laws, you believe in ideas! Ideas are available to us through thought, while phenomena are available to us through our senses.

So, naturally, thought is a vastly superior means to get to the truth. This is what makes Plato a rationalist, as opposed to an empiricist, in epistemology. Senses can only give you information about the ever-changing and imperfect world of phenomena, and so can only provide you with implications about ultimate reality, not reality itself. Reason goes straight to the idea. You “remember,” or intuitively recognize the truth, as Socrates suggested in the dialog Meno. According to Plato, the phenomenal world strives to become ideal, perfect, complete. Ideals are, in that sense, a motivating force. In fact, he identifies the ideal with God and perfect goodness. God creates the world out of materia (raw material, matter) and shapes it according to his “plan” or “blueprint” -- ideas or the ideal. If the world is not perfect, it is not because of God or the ideals, but because the raw materials were not perfect. I think you can see why the early Christian church made Plato an honorary Christian, even though he died three and a half centuries before Christ!

Plato applies the same dichotomy to human beings: There’s the body, which is material, mortal, and “moved” (a victim of causation). Then there’s the soul, which is ideal, immortal, and “unmoved” (enjoying free will). The soul includes reason, of course, as well as self-awareness and moral sense. Plato says the soul will always choose to do good, if it recognizes what is good. This is a similar conception of good and bad as the Buddhists have: Rather than bad being sin, it is considered a matter of ignorance. So, someone who does something bad requires education, not punishment. The soul is drawn to the good, the ideal, and so is drawn to God. We gradually move closer and closer to God through reincarnation as well as in our individual lives. Our ethical goal in life is resemblance to God, to come closer to the pure world of ideas and ideal, to liberate ourselves from matter, time, and space, and to become more real in this deeper sense. Our goal is, in other words, self-realization. Plato talks about three levels of pleasure. First is sensual or physical pleasure, of which sex is a great example.

A second level is sensuous or esthetic pleasure, such as admiring someone’s beauty, or enjoying one’s relationship in marriage. But the highest level is ideal pleasure, the pleasures of the mind. Here the example would be Platonic love, intellectual love for another person unsullied by physical involvement. Paralleling these three levels of pleasure are three souls. We have one soul called appetite, which is mortal and comes from the gut. The second soul is called spirit or courage. It is also mortal, and lives in the heart. The third soul is reason. It is immortal and resides in the brain. The three are strung together by the cerebrospinal canal. Plato is fond of analogies. Appetite, he says, is like a wild horse, very powerful, but likes to go its own way. Spirit is like a thoroughbred, refined, well trained, directed power. And reason is the charioteer, goal-directed, steering both horses according to his will. Other analogies abound, especially in Plato’s greatest work, The Republic. In The Republic, he designs (through Socrates) a society in order to discover the meaning of justice.

Along the way, he compares elements of his society (a utopia, Greek for “no place”) to the three souls: The peasants are the foundation of the society. They till the soil and produce goods, i.e. take care of society’s basic appetites. The warriors represent the spirit and courage of the society. And the philosopher kings guide the society, as reason guides our lives. Before you assume that we are just looking at a Greek version of the Indian caste system, please note: Everyone’s children are raised together and membership in one of the three levels of society is based on talents, not on one’s birth parents! And Plato includes women as men’s equals in this system.

I leave you with a few quotes: "Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder." "...(I)f you ask what is the good of education in general, the answer is easy; that education makes good men, and that good men act nobly." "(I) do to others as I would they should do to me." "Our object in the construction of the State is the greatest happiness of the whole, and not that of any one class." Aristotle Aristotle (384-322) was born in a small Greek colony in Thrace called Stagira. His father was a physician and served the grandfather of Alexander the Great. Presumably, it was his father who taught him to take an interest in the details of natural life. He was Plato’s prize student, even though he disagreed with him on many points. When Plato died, Aristotle stayed for a while with another student of Plato, who had made himself a dictator in northern Asia Minor. He married the dictator’s daughter, Pythias. They moved to Lesbos, where Pythias died giving birth to their only child, a daughter.

Although he married again, his love for Pythias never died, and he requested that they be buried side by side. For four years, Aristotle served as the teacher of a thirteen year old Alexander, son of Philip of Macedon. In 334, he returned to Athens and established his school of philosophy in a set of buildings called the Lyceum (from a name for Apollo, “the shepherd”). The beautiful grounds and covered walkways were conducive to leisurely walking discussions, so the students were known as peripatoi (“covered walkways”). First, we must point out that Aristotle was as much a scientist as a philosopher. He was endlessly fascinated with nature, and went a long way towards classifying the plants and animals of Greece. He was equally interested in studying the anatomies of animals and their behavior in the wild. Aristotle also pretty much invented modern logic. Except for its symbolic form, it is essentially the same today. Let’s begin with metaphysics: While Plato separates the ever-changing phenomenal world from the true and eternal ideal reality, Aristotle suggests that the ideal is found “inside” the phenomena, the universals “inside” the particulars.

What Plato called idea or ideal, Aristotle called essence, and its opposite, he referred to as matter. Matter is without shape or form or purpose. It is just “stuff.” pure potential, no actuality. Essence is what provides the shape or form or purpose to matter. Essence is “perfect,” “complete,” but it has no substance, no solidity. Essence and matter need each other! Essence realizes (“makes real”) matter. This process, the movement from formless stuff to complete being, is called entelechy, which some translate as actualization. There are four causes that contribute to the movement of entelechy. They are answers to the question “why?” or “what is the explanation of this?” 1. The material cause: what something is made of. 2. The efficient cause: the motion or energy that changes matter. 3. The formal cause: the thing’s shape, form, or essence; its definition. 4. The final cause: its reason, its purpose, the intention behind it. 1. The material cause: The thing’s matter or substance. Why a bronze statue? The metal it is made of.

Today, we find an emphasis on material causation in reductionism, explaining, for example, thoughts in terms of neural activity, feelings in terms of hormones, etc. We often go down a “level” because we can’t explain something at the level it’s at. 2. The efficient cause: The motion or energy that changes matter. Why the statue? The forces necessary to work the bronze, the hammer, the heat, the energy.... This is what modern science focuses on, to the point where this is what cause now tends to mean, exclusively. Note that modern psychology usually relies on reductionism in order to find efficient causes. But it isn’t always so: Freud, for example, talked about psychosexual energy and Skinner talked about stimulus and response. 3. The formal cause: The thing’s shape, form, definition, or essence. Why the statue? Because of the plan the sculptor had for the bronze, it’s shape or form, the non-random ordering of it’s matter. In psychology, we see some theorists focus on structure -- Piaget and his schema, for example. Others talk about the structure inherent in the genetic code, or about cognitive scripts. 4.

The final cause: The end, the purpose, the teleology of the thing. Why the statue? The purpose of it, the intention behind making it. This was popular with medieval scholars: They searched for the ultimate final cause, the ultimate purpose of all existence, which they of course labeled God! Note that, outside of the hard sciences, this is often the kind of cause we are most interested in: Why did he do it, what was his purpose or intention? E.g. in law, the bullet may have been the “efficient” cause of death, but the intent of the person pulling the trigger is what we are concerned with. When we talk about intentions, goals, values, and so on, we are talking about final causes. Aristotle wrote the first book on psychology (as a separate topic from the rest of philosophy). It was called, appropriately, Para Psyche, Greek for “about the mind or soul.” It is better known in the Latin form, De Anima. In this book, we find the first mentions of many ideas that are basic to psychology today, such as the laws of association.

In it, he says the mind or soul is the “first entelechy” of the body, the “cause and principle” of the body, the realization of the body. We might put it like this: The mind is the purposeful functioning of the nervous system. Like Plato, he postulates three kinds of souls, although slightly differently defined. There is a plant soul, the essence of which is nutrition. Then there is an animal soul, which contains the basic sensations, desire, pain and pleasure, and the ability to cause motion. Last, but not least, is the human soul. The essence of the human soul is, of course, reason. He suggests that, perhaps, this last soul is capable of existence apart from the body. He foreshadowed many of the concepts that would become popular only two thousand years later. Libido, for example: “In all animals... it is the most natural function to beget another being similar to itself... in order that they attain as far as possible, the immortal and divine.... This is the final cause of every creatures natural life.” And the struggle of the id and ego: “There are two powers in the soul which appear to be moving forces -- desire and reason.

But desire prompts actions in violation of reason... desire... may be wrong.” And the pleasure principle and reality principle: “Although desires arise which are opposed to each other, as is the case when reason and appetite are opposed, it happens only in creatures endowed with a sense of time. For reason, on account of the future, bids us resist, while desire regards the present; the momentarily pleasant appears to it as the absolutely pleasant and the absolutely good, because it does not see the future.” And finally, self-actualization: We begin as unformed matter in the womb, and through years of development and learning, we become mature adults, always reaching for perfection. "So the good has been well explained as that at which all things aim." © Copyright 2000, 2009, C. George Boeree The Philosophy Of Plato The Philosophy Of Plato Daily Popular Sponsored links: Along with his teacher, Socrates, and his most famous student, Aristotle, Plato laid the very foundations of Western philosophy and science. If you like this video, please share it: and Subscribe! Plato (429 –347 BC) was one of the first and greatest philosophers in the world.

He was the most famous pupil of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle. His work in the form of philosophical dialogues have survived throughout and had a huge influence on ancient Greek philosophy and in general in the western philosophical tradition until today. Flixxy editors search the internet daily, to find the very best videos for you: SELECTION: From the 1 billion videos uploaded to YouTube daily, Flixxy editors selects only 3-5 videos to be added to the site daily. PG RATING: Flixxy videos and comments are all PG rated. They are "Safe For All Ages" and "Safe For Work". All content is “uplifting”. SELECTED START AND END POINTS: Many of Flixxy’s videos start late or end early. We skip lengthy introductions and get to the point. CONCISE CAPTION AND DESCRIPTION: We know your time is valuable, so we distill the information down to what you need to know. FREE DAILY NEWSLETTER: Get the latest videos delivered to your inbox by subscribing to the free "Video of the Day" newsletter here .

Sponsored links: Plato, the Metaphysic Philosopher - Greeka.com View all Famous people | Next famous personality: Aristotle the philosopher Life and education The son of two wealthy and prominent members of the Athenian society, Ariston and Perictione, Plato was born around 428 BC and died around 348 BC. He belonged to the prominent, oligarchic class and it is said that his mother originated from Solon, the famous Athenian lawmaker and lyric poet. Moreover, two of Plato's uncles were members of the Thirty Tyrants, the brief oligarchic regime established in Athens after the end of the Peloponnesian War (404-403 BC). As a child, Plato received good education. A Hellenistic legend says that his original name was Aristocles after his grandfather, but he got the nickname Plato from his wrestling coach, due to his broad ("platys" in Greek) and strong figure. From an early age, he showed a special interest in philosophy and became a follower of Socrates, the famous Athenian thinker who would stroll around the town and ask people questions, trying to find the right answer out of them.

A fact that marked the life of Plato was the trial and sentence to death of Socrates, his beloved mentor, in 399 BC. That time, he lost his belief in the Athenian society and disappointed as he was, Plato left his homeland to travel all around the world. He traveled in Italy, Sicily, Egypt and Libya. There, he met new people and civilizations, while he had the chance to discuss with famous personalities of his time. The Academy When Plato returned to Athens, at the age of forty, he established a school on a plot of land that belonged to some man named Academus, which is why the school was called Academy. The Academy of Plato is one of the earliest upscale institutions in the western world and young Athenians would learn philosophy, mathematics, music, art astronomy and other subjects there. One of the first students of the Academy was Aristotle, the third most famous of the Athenian philosophers. The Academy of Plato worked for almost 900 years, until it was closed by Byzantine emperor Justinian I in 529 BC for spreading pagan, anti-Christian ideas. The Dialogues of Plato The works of Plato have the form of dialogues/discourses.

Scholars divide his works in three categories: the early, middle and late works. His most famous dialogues are the Apology of Socrates, where Plato describes the trial of his mentor and the last days in prison; Republic, where he suggests a new form of government and political system; Timaeus and Critias, where he discusses the origins of language and knowledge; and Protagoras, referring to the ideas of this famous Sophist philosopher. The central character in all the Dialogues of Plato is his teacher Socrates, who discusses with other people a certain issue. Scientists, however, haven't concluded whether the ideas expressed in these dialogues were indeed the teachings of Socrates, or whether they were ideas of Plato that he put in the mouth of Socrates to give them more credibility. The Ideal State In his Republic, Plato describes the ideal state, according to him. Disappointed by all the political systems that Athens had used till that time, including democracy and oligarchy, Plato suggested his own system. He divided the society in three categories: the Philosopher Rulers or Kings, the Warriors or Guardians and the Workers. He divided the society in these categories in comparison to the categories of the soul.

The philosopher-rulers correspond to the reasonable part of the soul and they are the elite of every society. Intelligent, rational, self-controlled and wise, the philosophers have conquered the Knowledge and therefore, they must rule the state. The Guardians represent the spiritual part of the soul. Adventurous and brave in nature, these people should guard the well-being of the state. The lower social category was the Workers, in whose soul the "appetite" element dominates. These people occupy manual professions, so they can be laborers, merchants, farmers, carpenters or do any other manual work. According to Plato, a state must not base on rhetoric and persuasion, as happens in democracy, but on reason and wisdom. As philosophers are the few enlightened people of every society, they must govern all the others because they have conquered the "real truth". Therefore, Plato rejects all kinds of existing political systems and introduces his own. The Ideal Education A very important issue for the Ideal Society of Plato is the education of the youth. He suggests that all children must seperate from parents since their birth and that public institutions must take care of their education. Children do not need to know their parents, brothers or relatives, but consider the broader society as their family.

The public institutions must be governed by the philosophers who will provide children all the opportunities to "remember" the real knowledge. Knowledge Knowledge, for Plato, is not a matter of learning or observation, but a matter of recollection. He believes that there are two parallel worlds: the real world and the world we live in, which is a reflection of the real world. People on earth do not see the real sight of the objects, but their shadow. To explain this theory, Plato used the allegory of the cave. The Allegory of the Cave Imagine, says Plato, that the real world is like some people inside a cave. These people are chained and made to look at a wall since their childhood. Behind these people, there is the entrance of the cave and outside the entrance, there is the real world. Between these chained people and the real world, there is a big fire. Therefore, the chained people can't see the real world, but only their shadows/ representations as reflected by the big fire on the wall. Wouldn't they believe that these shadows are the real world, for they have seen only that? Imagine now, he continues, that someone manages to unchain himself and turn the head towards the outside world.

He sees the truth, he gets to know the real side of things, but when he tells the other people, they don't believe him. This unchained man, for Plato, is the philosopher. That is why, Plato thinks that knowledge is all about recollection: we all have seen the truth in another parallel world, but only a few get to remember it. Such interesting metaphysical beliefs were innovative for the ancient world and they influenced a lot modern philosophical thinking. Although a lot of these ideas were questioned even by his student Aristotle, a defender of reason instead of passion, Plato is considered as a greatly-inspiring philosopher, even in our days. More: The Best Teacher/Student Relationships in History | The Best Teacher/Student Relationships in History Posted on by Sarah James Teaching is one of the noblest, perhaps the noblest, professions known to us. It means making students aware of the experiences of the previous generations. Teaching is also one of the oldest professions on the planet. Therefore it has changed a lot in the past few millennia. While education was the privilege of the rich and the powerful as early as only in 16th century Europe, the Industrial Revolution has ushered in an era of mass education.

This has its effects on the teacher-student relationship. Though many famous relationships from antiquity are between an erudite teacher and a royal student, the 20th century saw the rise of mass educators in form of Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman and the like. Here we will quickly glance through some of the most famous teacher-student relationships the world has ever seen. Socrates, Plato, & Aristotle Plato-Socrates-Aristotle Together these three Hellenic philosophers were the backbone of Western philosophy until the Renaissance, and they still play a vital role in those societies. Socrates was poisoned to death for his views, but before dying he instilled his love of philosophy in his pupil Plato. Plato went on to become another influential teacher in Greece and was the mentor of another Greek polymath Aristotle. Together, these teacher-student relationships are the best known in the West. Chanakya & Chandragupta Chanakya – India’s Machiavelli Known as India’s Machiavelli, he used to teach at the highly regarded Takshila University in Bihar. He wrote several treatises on economics and political science.

And it was under his guidance that Chandragupta founded a vast empire when he was only 20. Later his empire will be known as the Maurya Empire, spanning from Assam in the east to Afghanistan in the West, covering almost all of South Asia. Carl Sagan Carl Sagan – Founder of the SETI Carl Sagan was an American astrophysicist, founder of the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute and a celebrated educator. He took on a bigger challenge, of imparting science education to the masses, his medium was television. Thanks to the numerous books he authored and his popular TV series Cosmos, he is widely held as the first teacher celebrity. A lot of people cite Carl Sagan as their reason to come to science; famous astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is one of them. If you’re interested in either becoming a tutor or finding one, we can help! If you’re in the New York City area, check out the classes and tutors on HeyKiki and find the perfect tutoring for you. If you’re looking for someone in the NYC area to learn with, we have study buddies on HeyKiki just waiting to connect with you!

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Question: Plato was the pupil of which famous teacher?
Answer: SOCRATES